Sprinklers which are mounted on the ceiling of a room so as to be responsive to an occurrence of fire, must meet various legal and safety requirements.
For example, it is legally required that more than a predetermined quantity of water be sprinkled at every section within 3 meters from the center of the sprinkler. In this case, it is required that an even and sufficient distribution of sprinkled water be obtained even in the presence of hydraulic pressure change in the range of 1kg/cm.sup.2 to 7kg/cm.sup.2.
Further, the minimum diameter of the sprinkling apertures is made such that the apertures do not clog during sprinkling.
With the conventional sprinkler which has sprinkling apertures of a larger diameter than those in the present invention, water under high pressure tends to be directively discharged without being atomized. Therefore, technically speaking, it is not a simple matter to sprinkle a sufficient quantity of water all over the floor or particular area within the range of 3 meters from the center of the sprinkler by eliminating the directivity.
Further, it is obvious that construction of a sprinkler satisfying the above requirements under higher pressure does not necessarily meet the requirements under lower pressure. Thus, many sprinkler products have been rejected after water sprinkling distribution tests have been carried out.
For example, in a conventional sprinkler, a spiral groove is provided inside the sprinkling aperture to spurt out water after twisting same for eliminating the directivity thereof. In this case, however, there is a shortcoming in that the diameter of the water sprinkling range is decreased if the water pressure is increased to an extent that the legal requirement cannot be met, although meeting the requirement under lower pressure.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sprinkler in which more than a predetermined quantity of water can be sprinkled over the entire range of a predetermined coverage both under high and low pressures in order to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages associated with the conventional sprinklers according to the prior art.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and the appended claims.
Essentially, according to the present invention, there is provided an improved sprinkler comprising a funnel-shaped housing member which is provided with a threaded portion at the upper internal periphery thereof and a slanted surface having a plurality of sprinkling apertures, a disc-shaped cover member provided at its central portion with a penstock and at the lower external periphery of said disc-shaped member with another threaded portion, a deflector member provided at the top thereof with a recessed portion and at the lower surface thereof with a pair of legs, a receiving plate disposed in the recessed portion of said deflector member provided with an adjusting pin, and a support member having a disc and a pair of arms welded to one surface of said disc, the improvement wherein said sprinkling apertures are formed with their wall portions substantially peripendicular to a floor of a building.